Nicole Norfleet

Nicole Norfleet currently covers commercial real estate along with professional services including the Twin Cities' thriving marketing, accounting, and legal communities. She is also a general assignment business reporter. She joined the Star Tribune's business team in the winter of 2015 after working as the St. Paul public safety reporter and holding various other metro assignments at the paper.

The television commercials that dominate Super Bowl Sunday aren't known for being highbrow. But come Sunday, when more than 100 million viewers are expected to tune into the Super Bowl, many of the ads won't be aimed at making people laugh, but to promote social change.

A coalition of residents in Minneapolis' East Phillips neighborhood wants to turn city land close to the Midtown Greenway into aquaponics farms, affordable housing and a neighborhood-run bike shop and cafe.

The lower levels of what they are now calling "the Dayton's project" will be filled with stores, restaurants and a food hall with a mix of trendy vendors and dining options. The upper floors will be office space with a health club and large outdoor terrace.

With an expected capital investment of $5 billion and the prospect of an office that will house tens of thousands of well-paid workers, Amazon presents the economic development opportunity of a generation. But Minnesota leaders and executives remain cautious.

Today's real-life dramas of the owners and tenants on the corner of 7th Street and Nicollet Mall tell a bigger tale. An acceleration of retail store closings in the Twin Cities and across the country is pushing property owners into upheaval, forcing them to try new strategies to fill spaces that are often cavernous and awkward.